Vacancy: Agricultural Research and Technology Specialist (ARTS)

Job Description

A reputable local NGO operating in northern Ghana is seeking dynamic professionals to be recruited for the under-listed job vacancies within the USAID-funded Ghana Market Systems Resilience (MSR) Project in northern Ghana.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Ghana Market Systems and Resilience Activity (MSR) is a five-year USAID-funded follow-on project to USAID/Ghana ADVANCE II. MSR will leverage over a decade of experience linking smallholders to markets, inputs, and services in Ghana. The project will strengthen commercial relationships between market actors, improve the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem to enable greater market participation, particularly for women and youth, expand the availability of agribusiness services, and link targeted policy initiatives to improved local economic governance. These activities will result in competitive, stronger, and more resilient markets, thus increasing inclusive agriculture-led economic growth in northern Ghana.

• Job Title: Agricultural Research and Technology Specialist (ARTS)


• Reports To: Capacity Building Team Lead


• Location: Tamale

Summary of Responsibilities                                                                                                            

The Agricultural Research and Technology Specialist (ARTS) will be responsible for coordinating the activities of research and technology institutions to deliver agricultural-related content that impacts upon and improves knowledge, skills and behavior change for enhanced productivity, efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of market actors within northern Ghana’s agricultural sector. She/he will develop and strengthen sustainable relationships and collaboration among and between research and technology institutions and end users to function as an innovation platform providing sustainable access to agronomic and agribusiness information by stakeholders that promotes adoption and scaling of impactful agriculture research and technologies.   

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The Agricultural Research and Technology Specialist (ARTS) shall employ the appropriate technical strategies and methodologies to achieve short and long-term MSR Activity goals in the areas of innovation, adoption of improved technologies and practices. This includes, (but not limited to): 

1. Supporting the mapping of roles and relationships of research and technology institutions involved in the production, packaging, and dissemination of agricultural related content for use by stakeholders.


2. Working with MSR’s sub-contractors, developing and operationalizing a sustainable ICT4Ag-based content sharing system in line with the MOFA agricultural extension and e-Agricultural policies, to give multiple stakeholders access to agricultural-related materials and content to improve knowledge skills and professional agronomic practice.


3. Coordinating and engaging with research innovation and information centred labs to introduce and scale new technology solutions, together with Outgrower businesses (OB) and smallholder farmers. 


4. Delineate and document existing productivity enhancing crop production and management technologies in the areas of Climate Smart Agriculture, soil health, plant health, drudgery-reducing/labor saving mechanization, crop harvesting and post-harvest storage technologies. Specific technologies required and used by women and youth should receive special attention.


5. Manage and/or support Short-term Technical Assistance (STTA) assignments, budgets and Partnership and Innovation Fund (PIF) grant instruments related to his/her component and work assignment.


6. Work with other MSR project specialists to enhance efficient access to technology, information, finance, networks, and other services.


7. Collect data pertinent to impacts realized through applied research and technologies adoption and scaling for integration with MSR’s MIS and M&E systems.

Required Skills or Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies, agricultural development, agricultural education and/or extension / innovation process, agriculture economics, mechanical engineering, or another relevant area of study. A Master’s degree in any of the above fields will be an advantage.


• Five or more years’ Experience in agricultural research and development, agricultural value chains, and productivity improvement.


• Experience working with smallholder farmers, women and youth, government institutions, civil society organizations, private agriculture and financing companies and groups, and other stakeholders. 


• Proficient in Microsoft office applications, particularly MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint


• Good report writing skills.


• Demonstrated capacity to work in teams with colleagues